


Dandelions and Daisies

by BaeLanna



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/F, alternative universe, the bitch is back
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-05-29 09:38:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15070376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaeLanna/pseuds/BaeLanna
Summary: Kathryn faces an enemy she cannot defeat on her own.





	1. ONE

Dandelions and Daisies

Chapter 1.

 

A steadily inflating mass of black smoke winds its way around the skinny legs of alleged witch and persistent eluder of justice, Kathryn 'Killjaws' Janeway.

Sweat mixes with the layers of dirt which cover her bare arms and legs, making her hot skin grimy, the beige cloth which covers her shoulders to her thighs filling with heat as the naked skin underneath twitches in discomfort.

A thick rope ties her waist, wrists and ankles to a wooden stake, its tightness choking her even before her lungs begin to fill with noxious gases.

Knotted, auburn hair hangs passed Kathryn's elbows, greasy and interspersed with silver strands, it covers her face as her head lolls weakly towards the approaching flames, the immense heat which hits her skin making it strain backwards again.

Her heavy head pressing against the hard wooden stake, Kathryn peeks through a curtain of hair to see the faces of jeering townsfolk brandishing fists, weapons and children before her, the labels "Sorceress!", "Enchantress!" and similar flying from their angry mouths.

Her eyes focus on an eight-year-old girl who clings to her raging father's coat, intimidated by the noise and spectacle.

The girl sees the glint of Kathryn's eyes looking back at her in the firelight, but she does not turn away - it isn't the young girl's proximity to 'the witch' that frightens her.

Small for her age and an assumed orphan from the age of two, the dark skined, dark curly haired girl was adopted into a kind family who embraced her unusual brown skin, but certainly would not embrace the 'magic' she once performed accidentally, and now practices regularly in secret.

She fears the rage in her adoptive father's screaming voice, and as the yellow flames creep towards Killjaws' toes, her eyes fill with tears of despair.

Killjaws had mysteriously known about her magical secret and had approached her one day as she sat alone turning dandelions into daisies on the steps of the ruins of an ancient temple.

The woman with red hair had told her that they were not witches but something more akin to superhumans, insisting therefore that the young girl practice her special skills only at night for her own safety, as when she becomes older she will need to use her abilities to help save the world.

Although the girl was unsure what this meant, she did not ask for clarification.

The girl continues to watch as flames now lick the tips of Killjaws toes, the 'superhuman' grimacing as her skin quickly chars against its heat.

There are many things Kathryn can do but controlling supernatural flame, and untying supernaturally tightened rope are not one of them… She recently discovered that the 'regular humans' are working in collaboration with a so-called-witch more powerful than any of the others in an attempt to destroy all other sources of supernatural influence.

So far as Kathryn knows, there are very few others capable of bending nature to their will, most of them practising their powers in secret, though several have broken away from peaceful relations with their fellow town and village folk, and Killjaws is one of them.

Boiling air sucks into Kathryn's dry mouth as she begins to whine, her eyes watering and body struggling as fire begins to crawl over her bare feet and burn through her skin.

Her once pale flesh quickly turns from red to black, causing the thickening smoke to stink like death as enraptured spectators hoot with delight.

Not yet resigned to this tortuously slow and painful death, Kathryn shrieks in anger and agony, her head beating against the stake as her hair whips over her face, her hands and ankles straining against the rope which holds her body in a vice against the wood, her shoulders and knees bending inwards in a futile attempt to snap it.

Smoke burns her throat as flames caress her legs, cooking them slowly as her feet seethe with such disorienting pain that she cannot remember how she ever got caught in the first place. 

In torment and in sorrow, Kathryn repeatedly screams for the one person who is not there, "ANNIKA!! ANNIKA!!"

"Tanya?" the father of the dark skinned child says, turning desperately around into the crowds which cackle and stomp around him as the witch burns and screams gibberish, his child seeming to have vanished amongst the excitement.

Flames stinging her upper thighs and smoke suffocating her baking lungs, agony and asphyxiation reduce the withering form of the once strong Killjaws to nothing more than burning meat on a forgotten barbecue, the child in danger of suffering a similar fate.

Kathryn's bleary, red eyes begin to close for the last time, the ends of her long hair smoking as her straining, chapped lips bleed and pale fingertips curl and blacken inside the peaks of large flames… But through the sweltering haze, Kathryn feels small hands grab her cheeks and gently smack her conscious.

Her watering eyes open to see Tanya stood inside the flames, her plain, grey dress and matching coat burning but her body remaining unharmed.

Tanya's soot-covered brown arms are outstretched, her small fingers soothing Kathryn's searing face as flames continue to waltz around the pair of them, although neither flames nor smoke continue to cause Killjaws harm.

As Kathryn's cornflower blue eyes open wider they focus more powerfully on the impossibly black eyes of the blackening child, and she realises to her astonishment that she is no longer in pain, the little girl's abilities so powerful that one touch has soothed her from head to toe.

Tanya releases Killjaws' cheeks before moving swiftly through the flames.

She hears onlookers voices raising in uproar as one woman claims to have witnessed the missing girl wandering around the flames, declaring therefore that the child must be under the influence of the incantation-screaming witch, though others believe the girl could be Killjaws' magical accomplice.

Kathryn's mind attempts to process her body's new-found painlessness as the rope which binds her body to the wooden pole loosens, falling to her feet, the little girl having successfully untied her.

Petrified for his daughter's welfare, and incensed by the accusations that she herself could be a witch, Tanya's father leads a large group of angry townsfolk onto the wooden platform, each man and woman preparing to fight the evil menace which has control of this good man's innocent daughter.

They raise polls and pitchforks and stand with eyes blazing before the billowing flames and smoke which completely engulf the two females, although their movement inside it remains detectable.

A sudden pain like two daggers being dragged down either side of her back causes Kathryn's knees to buckle as she collapses into the flames, choking with panic as the fire she now squats inside begins to tangle into her auburn hair, reaching up to her scalp as flames blossom from each of her palms and fingers.

Metal objects begin to swipe through the flames, the townsfolk now attempting to beat Killjaws the Witch to death, burning having been so ineffectual.

Tanya's terrified father screams her name as Kathryn turns to see the little girl weaving the flames into what looks like a great mass of feathers, fire spouting from the slashes she drew with her fingernails down Kathryn's back, smaller flames growing across the adult's neck, arms and legs, providing the child with ample flameage for her purposes.

The metal objects not being quite long enough to touch either woman or child, one especially long pitchfork enters the flames, hits something, and comes out bent, horrifying the townsman who swung it. 

Rubbing her neck out of habit as opposed to necessity, Tanya finishes moulding Killjaws into a pretty, if temporary, golden bird.

The still hunched and silent adult gapes at the inflammable and unforkable little girl, Tanya looking peculiarly back at Killjaws, a little self-conscious of the scrutiny.

Tanya now stands with only flames covering her skin, and winces as she hears her father call, knowing she can never return to him, not now she is surely suspected of witchcraft.

But she likes Killjaws, and wants to grow up to help her save the world, like the red-haired woman had said.

"Fly away, quickly" commands the little girl quietly, tears in her eyes but her small mouth smiling kindly as Kathryn witnesses her dark body gradually disappear into the smoke, her shining white teeth disappearing last as they gleam at the adult whose beige tunic has similarly burned away, and who will now be able to escape and heal.

Kathryn rises to her feet as townsfolk wail and curse around her, her guts churning and she hears Tanya's father sobbing loudly despite him being guilty of having taken such a young child to a witch burning.

Frustration causes the flames which crown her auburn head and continue down to the heels of her feet to spike as twinges of sharp pain creep across her blackened legs, Kathryn understanding this extraordinary protection from fire, and her new aviation potential, will not last long.

Multiple metal rods beating through the flames crash against the stake which Kathryn realises must have been reinforced by something supernatural as well, adrenaline pouring through her veins in indignation at the whole debacle, her most infamous asset, her "killing jaws", tensing in provocation.

The temporarily stronger Kathryn suddenly lurches forwards and sinks her bright, white teeth into the thick wood of the reinforced stake, vibrating her jaws into its depth.

Her mouth tears through the wood with the same ease one would bite a fresh baguette, but with the unnatural speed of a power drill, she finishes only moments later, stepping back to allow the severed stake to crash to the floor, townsfolk shrieking around her as she spits small chunks of wood from her splintered mouth.

Tanya's gift of immunity from pain and harm weakening with each second, doubt flickers across Kathryn's mind, delaying her next move as she realises she must somehow fly away, remembering however that she has never flown before, not as a 'bird' - how does one do it?

But as she considers the dynamics of flight, her folded fire-wings rustle, and then incinerate the skin from her back, Kathryn gritting her teeth to block a wail of pain as two enormous wings, each more than twice the length of her full body, spread out on either side of her.

Townsfolk squeal as flames shoot passed their eyes, several spectators suffering burns as all but Tanya's father, whose right cheek is raw from being swiped by flames, his eyelashes singed and coat alight, leap from the platform.

Without another moment's hesitation, Killjaws' wings contract inwards and she lifts through the smoky haze, rising above the terrified, scattering crowd.

Her wide eyes flash over the townsfolk as she tries to locate Tanya, but the little girl has gone, her anguished father whimpering, believing his daughter murdered and her body destroyed by flame by the now escaped witch.

Realising that allowing her father to think she is now dead to have been Tanya's plan when she decided to save Killjaws, rather than allowing him to believe she is also a witch, Kathryn's eyes meet with Tanya's fathers as he shrieks into the warm, smoky air, "I'll kill you!"

Reluctant tears in her own eyes over the loss this father will now suffer owing to Tanya's decision to save her from a most horrible death, Kathryn's emotions cause her to struggle to maintain flight.

As townsfolk notice her flaming wings faltering, they begin to throw objects towards her, a metal watering can smacking Killjaws on the side of her burnt leg as moaning with pain and without another backward glance, her flaming body turns, golden feathers carrying her towards distant temple ruins, where safety hopefully awaits.


	2. CHAPTER 2

Dandelions and Daisies

Chapter 2 

 

Birdsong echoes across the long, deep, empty space of an underground temple, centuries forgotten and half-reclaimed by nature.

The ceiling is split equally lengthwise, the left side stone, the right open sky, a narrow, ancient staircase leading from the surface and zig-zagging its way several times down the long walls and onto the root-riddled, broken stone floor.

It is early morning but already bright sunlight falls from the fully exposed sun into the eastward facing cavern.

Enormous vines, green and luscious, sprawl thickly across each visible temple wall, their leaves and stems illuminated and winding into small clusters of wildflowers, bushes and bramble which adorn the temple floor.

A large statue stands obscured by shadow at the far end of the structure, with many smaller statues of women in plain, open robes embossed in one continuous line around the place of worship, around eight feet from the ground.

The sound of more than several flies buzzing is followed by a pained whimper and the rustling of foliage as a filthy, strengthless limb, raw with burns, feebly swipes at unwanted guests who see her recently grilled body as manna from heaven.

After a long, cool night of undisturbed agony, laying in a fetal position on a bed of now ash-coated ferns, warm sunlight now shrouds Kathryn's damaged exterior, her consciousness wavering as sleep inevitably begins to provide a respite from pain.

And an opportunity for flies to feast.

Groaning with resistance, Killjaws clenches her wood-stained teeth and squirms miserably, the remains of her tender skin grating over whatever it touches as with a tortured whine which volume is amplified by the large, lonely, stone cavity she crash landed in the night before, Kathryn rolls over and crashes onto her stomach.

Burnt limbs bent, and open, peeling mouth slowly inhaling and exhaling the aroma from the crushed fern leaves which are still vaguely fresh after a night beneath poorly cooked meat, Kathryn drifts into sleep, flies drifting back onto the exposed muscle of her lower legs.

The sun only marginally higher in the sky, Kathryn experiences a distinct feeling of weightlessness as she slowly wakes to stone beneath her stinging feet, a pile of darkly coloured clothes slumped a few feet from her, and a smooth, strong arm wrapped around her naked waist.

Another arm guides her left hand onto the edge of what appears to be a well preserved stone altar, half in shadow and stood central on the floor of the temple, Kathryn and another standing only several metres from her bed of ferns.

The arm around her waist slowly loosens as Kathryn stands on trembling legs, her crusty eyes opening and killing jaws spreading into a soft grin as the other, a woman, spreads her lightly tanned right hand over Kathryn's stomach and holds her weak body softly against her own.

The second woman, who is taller than Kathryn, stands with her breasts bound by white fabric and her shoulder length, golden hair smothering one side of Kathryn's own as she gently rests her chin on the smaller woman's grubby shoulder, moving both hands onto her narrow hips.

Kathryn feels soft lips gently kiss her sweat-greased neck and she closes her eyes.

The other woman then kisses her shoulder, Kathryn's body warming pleasantly until she hears the other woman whimper from behind her back, her lowered blonde head pulling back.

Annika Hansen, known only by her surname to her fellow town and village folk who believe her a mysterious and beautiful male, stands tearful behind the maimed form of her lover.

"Annie…", Kathryn speaks with a hoarse and exhausted voice, her dangling right arm bending to place one charred hand upon the unblemished skin which still holds her hips.

Annika's shining eyes look down at the older woman's feebly tightening grip over her fingers, a plea for her to do what she has to do, what Kathryn escaped here for Annika to do.

Re-finding her voice, Annika responds with strained confidence, "I will make this assimilation as quick as possible."

Immediately the veins in her right hand begin to glow a luminous teal, the skin across her mostly naked body brightening as sunlight illuminates each one of her cells, her veins all rising to the surface at once and glowing like a teal lattice beneath her translucent skin.

Blonde hair shimmering and beginning to float in an invisible current, Annika's anguished expression loosens into one of determined concentration.

Veins in her right hand now beginning to bulge, two burst through Annika's skin, red blood seeping out of each exit site as the veins shoot over her knuckles, continue outwards and finally slow to float like thick, wondering tendrils over Kathryn's dirty breasts and chest.

Kathryn's tired eyes look down at these, the main vein tendrils, knowing that there are around a hundred more poking out of the younger woman's pale peach skin - indeed, over a hundred smaller, teal veins now arch from most inches of Annika's lightly sparkling body, each preparing a brutal but swift, temporary assimilation.

Kathryn's head turns over her shoulder to meet Annika's and their lips touch to share a slow kiss, vein tendrils lengthening and positioning themselves like spikes centimetres from Kathryn's burnt legs and feet, her wrists, arms and waist.

Finally Annika's right hand, which now holds the older woman's right shoulder as they kiss, aims its large tendrils at Kathryn's neck.

Kathryn's eyes are closed as in fear of the pain which is about to follow, she begins to deeply suck Annika's mouth, the younger woman's sweet lips being her last remaining comfort.

Warm tendrils break the skin of her neck and crawl into her flesh as her lips fall from Annika's.

As she tries to gasp, the hundred other smaller tendrils pierce into her flesh as scorching pain, not too dissimilar to the burning last night, rushes through Kathryn's body, Annika's blood joining with her own as her trembling blue eyes meet with those of the younger woman.

Kathryn stands slightly hunched and with her hands resting on the altar before her, her body inwardly convulsing as Annika's veins become her own, her tangled auburn hair beginning to glitter and drift in the same invisible current Annika's does.

The strain causes the softly illuminated younger woman to hunch over Kathryn, her left arm wrapped around the older woman's waist and her body flank against her sooty back, the wondering red and yellow waves of their hair moving as one in the sunlight.

All vein tendrils now mostly encased and pulsating under Kathryn's skin, Annika breathes shallowly over Kathryn's shoulder.

The transference of liquid tissue, containing within it an alien healing component, causes Annika temporary lightheadedness.

Cell repair accelerating within Kathryn's slim body, the gradual rejuvenation allows her to straighten her spine and lift her head, Annika loosening her grip around her waist and releasing her shoulder.

"It was Seska," Kathryn finally rasps disdainfully, "She is pretending to be law enforcement…"

At once, all vein tendrils pull out of Kathryn's body and she winces, both women's hair falling back onto their shoulders as Kathryn staggers on her still blackened feet, each puncture site slowly closing as her skin quickly knits itself back together, blood trickling from each fresh scar. 

Slowly turning round, Kathryn regains her balance with Annika's assistance, the older woman standing with trails of blood thickening her grime, but with strength slowly returning to her healing body.

Annika's skin features similar tracks of blood as the larger exits sites on her right hand dribble blood down her forearm before healing over, the luminescence leaving her body and her veins retreating back into the depth of her flesh.

Kathryn stands with her back and arms against the altar, Annika stepping into the shadows and retrieving a wet cloth from a small, cracked fountain in the temple wall.

Kathryn cannot help but cringe as she looks down at her filthy skin and hair - although she has been busy burning at a stake and shivering on a stone floor for the past eight hours, she would prefer not to look so unkempt in front of Annie.

Annika steps back towards Kathryn and the two women stare stoically at one another for a long moment before Annika raises the wet, white cloth and gently wipes the grime from Kathryn's face.

As the cloth moves over the auburn haired woman's newly clean, pink lips, Annika cannot help but lean down and kiss her once more.

Kathryn's arms hold Annika's waist as she tenderly returns the kiss, Annika slowly breaking away and whispering with some difficulty, "Seska is now part of law enforcement. The mayor introduced her in Hillsboro town hall yesterday evening…"

Kathryn's eyes darken as her fingers slip from Annika's skin, the blonde briefly studying the now dirty white cloth and continuing, "Your death was to be her first act as a new breed of 'special constable'."

Looking back at the silently furious Killjaws, Annika confesses, "Well, her first official act. Before that she succeeded in trapping me inside a 'magically reinforced' cell...To stop me attempting to rescue you."

She turns her head away and grips the white cloth which drips moisture onto the stone floor, tears beginning to fill her eyes as guilt threatens once more to stop her beating heart.

After a brief silence, Kathryn takes Annika's hand and smiles her crafty, crooked smile into Annika's tormented, red eyes.

Kathryn speaks gently and in a half-tease, "What good are we really to each other when we cannot save one another from your crazy wife's vindictiveness?"

Her hand still in Kathryn's, Annika turns her head upwards into the bright daylight as she takes a long moment to regain her countenance.

"Seska is strong, but it was the child who prepared your execution" Annika reveals evenly, before looking back at the momentarily speechless Kathryn.

Gently taking back her hand to wipe clean the older woman's shoulders, Kathryn's fingertips rest on Annika's stomach as with her chin raised to allow the young woman to slowly wash her neck and chest, Kathryn whispers uncertainly, "Tanya save my life-"

"Seska has been grooming Tanya and now she obeys Seska's orders" replies Annika quickly before unravelling the wet cloth and placing the cleaner side on top of both Kathryn's breasts.

Annika massages Kathryn's flesh lovingly, cutting through dirt and blood to reveal the beautiful, freckled skin underneath.

As she folds the cloth and wipes each pale breast individually, she looks up into Kathryn's worried face as the redhead responds, "But Tanya released me-"

"She spared you. I doubt others will be so lucky…" And with that, Annika returned with the cloth to the fountain, Kathryn now standing without support and at her full height, anxious and alert.

"Annika… Where is Kes?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Any silly errors it's because I'm using voice recognition ;) x


	3. Chapter 3

Dandelions and Daisies

Chapter Three 

 

"Release her!!"

A young man with hazelnut-brown hair and matching facial hair wrestles against the tight hold of two diligent townsmen.

He sweats profusely and shouts with startling strength in regard to his emaciated form, roaring the same three words, his legs flying upwards as the two, stronger men tighten their grip, the younger man bright red with fury, anguished tears quickly filling his eyes.

"Stop this! Stop this, please… please…"

Devastation suddenly weakening his body, Tom Paris, the once great automobile designing prodigy, now a poverty-stricken town drunkard, flails in the arms of the two stronger men, unable to mop his secretion-sodden face, muscles burning with still unspent adrenaline.

Whimpering and continuing to struggle, Tom splutters with his head lowered, "Somebody help Kes… Kes…"

Anger tearing into his soul, Tom throws his body forwards, the two townsmen almost toppling over as rage having made his body swell and stiffen, Tom's throat stings as he shrieks, "KES!!!"

A thump from deep underground goes almost unnoticed as the heavily trampled grass beneath the sea of spectators vibrates.

A second, minutely stronger thump is followed by the flight of birds from surrounding trees.

Dogs and small children begin to whine in an as yet inexpressible feeling of dread, adults still apparently unaware of the restless earth, Drunken Tom's bawling and their own incessant muttering still absorbing their focus.

The ground then begins to steadily rumble and for a long moment the crowd remains oblivious until gradually small sections of it began to fall silent.

A swell of confused barking, crying, gasping and scampering builds across the open field where towns and villages people have congregated around a small, and extremely deep lake, to witness a second witch execution draw to its conclusion.

Beer and secretion-coated lips stretching into a smile, Tom Paris roars from between his stupefied captors arms in their position several metres behind the now dwindling crowd, "YES, KES!!"

The two men charged with Tom's containment watch the scattering crowd and rippling water in horror.

Deciding they cannot escape the flight of a second witch if they are still tied to the drunk, they allow Tom to wriggle free, and he topples to the floor before immediately pulling himself back up and hurtling forwards towards the lake.

Four wooden poles, as thick as stakes, protrude out of the lake's surface, the trembling, murky water beginning to swirl and slosh over the lake bank.

Only a few droplets of water reach the grass however, most remaining unnaturally suspended in midair, whirling and spreading as several more thumps, and the sudden, ear-splitting crack of the four poles breaking cause most remaining bystanders, already terrified by the dancing water droplets, to flee.

Almost hysterical from the sudden, apparent, turn of events, the disruption of nature being a sure sign that Kes is still alive, Tom staggers towards the lake edge. 

Amidst a scattering of floating soil, moisture, grass, petals and dandelion fluff, nature having been so supernaturally disturbed only a small group of witnesses are left to see it, for a split second, Tom allows himself to hope.

Kes' nature-manipulating magic always did excite him, although he had never witnessed a spectacle such as this before…

Fearful such natural disturbance is not a sign of life, but a sign of life being taken away, he lunges towards the lake's surface, but his advance is impeded by sharp fingernails which dig into each of his shoulders and pull him backwards - his face contorts in fury as he seems to recognise his aggressor at once.

"B'Elanna, you degenerate bi-" bursts like acid through Tom's clenching teeth as the two of them fall sideways into the grass, Tom continuing to curse in hysterical anger, and panic, as a slim but muscular woman straddles his back and restrains his flailing arms.

Face red and malnourished body trembling in its futile attempt to break free, Tom spits over his shoulder to the relatively smartly dressed brunette who has denied him his only chance to save the woman whose friendship saved him, "Kill yourself before you make this mistake twice…"

The earth continues to rumble around them, and they are oblivious to the gradually larger and larger chunks of soil which break away from the lake bank, and crumble into the water.

Plant and tree roots curling upwards from the soil, the ground crawling with unrest, two men stand at a distance from each other on the other side of the lake.

Stunned by the chaos, and in sympathy with Tom whose feelings of despair over Kes' fate are similar to their own, the three men experience the beginning of what they suspect to be the world as they know it collapsing around them.

Stepping backwards, Harry Kim, a well-dressed, young entrepreneur, remains composed as nature churns around him, his clothes becoming filthier by the second, his thick, black hair being tousled by the wind as he turns towards the second man, Mr Tuvok, a town elder, and Kes's former mentor.

Tuvok stares back at the younger man, similarly calm amongst the natural disturbance which surrounds them, both men's hearts crinkling as Tom's vain struggle against Seska's servant seems to speak volumes…

It is surely futile to attempt to oppose a force so strong it can imprison and destroy Kes, the district's most powerful "witch"… These executions will continue, and there is nothing they can do about it.

B'Elanna's face is a portrait of shame, her eyes awash with tears as she listens to Tom begin to weep.

She secures her grip on his bent arms and waist, and turns her face away to a distant figure with long brown hair who walks slowly from the curling tree roots to the lake.

Over half a mile away, the forms of Kathryn and Annika weave relentlessly through the shuddering trees and rampaging wildlife which separate them from the village where Kathryn's young friend Kes resides and works as a farmhand.

They move like panthers, their bodies seemingly unnaturally subtle, uncommonly strong, their skin and loosefitting clothes already torn open in places as each has stumbled, and then thrown herself back onto her feet.

Anxiety sharpening their already heightened senses, horror has invaded Seven's soul with the realisation of Seska's continued cruel deeds, as anguish and rage propel the revenge-ravenous Kathryn forwards.

Having left the temple immediately after their strength had returned following Kathryn's brief assimilation, they ran, initially out of what they felt could have been paranoia, towards the village of Eyam, where they hoped to find Kes working and learning alongside Mr Tuvok in his fields.

As they had set off, between breaths Kathryn had asked "Kes will be stronger… than Tanya… surely?", unconsciously speeding up as after a short moment Annika matched her new pace, replying "Her powers are still undisciplined... She would not risk conflict-"

They then felt the earth move beneath their feet as tree roots moved like snakes, each woman sliding onto the ground, their fears for Kes' well-being slowly being confirmed.

Now sprinting through a troubled forest, their hair clotted with mud and pieces of drifting debris, tears cleaning the dirt out of their glistening eyes, Killjaws elicits shrieks from the already fleeing town and village folk who watched her burn the night before.

It is not them Killjaws is after however, but Kathryn doesn't fail to bare her teeth and hiss at them for good measure.

There is another strong rumble and a large crack appears in the ground to Kathryn's right, the supernatural struggle the two women are fast approaching reaching its climax, as in the depths of the small lake, Kes' four limbs are strapped to the still solid remains of the four stakes, her body writhing within the plain cloth which swathes her.

Unclean water filling her ears, there is no sound except for the muffled churning of liquid matter, and the faint vibrations of a young man's wailing from the surface.

She recognises this one voice as Tom Paris', and she wants desperately to cry out for him.

Her head and neck straining, long, curly blonde hair slips on and off her terrified face.

Her skyblue eyes are open as she silently pleads with a small girl who remains out of reach in the blackest of the shadows, the little girl's dark eyes watching Kes rapidly running out of air.

Kes remains unwilling to risk further struggle, her untamed abilities being dangerous to the a few friends she knows are mourning for her on the surface, however, her natural instinct to survive quickly overrules her wavering ability to remain calm.

Her face contorting with the involuntary need to expand her lungs, Tanya flinches as Kes's mouth finally bursts open and she begins to jerk, water filling into her lungs as the struggle against pain causes her four limbs to finally contract inwards.

The supreme strength she is still able to muster causes every living thing in the earth surrounding her to seethe, the lake water whirling around her as she finally brings the four supernaturally-strengthened wooden stakes collapsing into its depths.

On the surface, soil cascades into the lake as cracks in the ground become veins of muddy water which stretch out into the already ruinous field.

Realising she may be able to save herself, Kes' stinging muscles quickly slide the ropes which bound her free from the severed poles, and she turns her head up towards the distant sunlight.

As she starts to swim upwards, her left leg is stopped as Tanya catches the rope which is still tethered to it, and drags Kes's weakened body back downwards.

The earth quakes as the young woman struggles to break free from the impossible grip of the child Seska promised would seal her doom.

Daylight disappears forever from her eyes as she is pulled deeper into the shadows, her heart failing as on the surface, the barks of the trees around the periphery of the field split, the earth seeming to expand and contract in time with the final beats of Kes' heart.

By the time Tanya touches the lake floor, it is a dead body she brings with her.

Obediently looking away from Kes' dead eyes, an instruction she had been given by the tall, brown-haired "witch" who is now her second adoptive mother, or so the witch has informed her, Tanya begins to untie the ropes from Kes' body.

On the surface, the quaking ground has now stilled, and Harry lowers his head, his eyes shining with tears as he turns from the deep lake. 

B'Elanna finally releases the grime and tearstained Tom, who struggles upwards and launches himself forwards and into the water.

Arriving to a scene of supernatural disturbance as far as the eye can see, foliage and other things still forming a veil across the air, the remains of four stakes sticking out the surface of a now perfectly still lake, Kathryn's body aches with emotion.

Annika notices Tom Paris wading into the deep water and she sprints past Kathryn towards the four broken stakes.

Kathryn's eyes focus on the agitated form of B'Elanna Torres, a fellow "witch" much like herself, and a good friend, until Kathryn discovered that B'Elanna had decided to take orders from Seska.

Blind to the taller woman who approaches the scene with an unlikely air of content only several metres away from her, Kathryn charges into the approaching brunettes path, B'Elanna noticing her at once and bracing herself for a fight.

In a tangle of arms and legs, Kathryn and B'Elanna snarl as they crash in a heap onto the grass.

Kathryn feels B'Elanna's fist piston into her stomach and as the air is knocked out of her, she opens her mouth and sinks her teeth into B'Elanna's shirt, across the top of her breast and across her ribs.

Her teeth draw blood and as B'Elanna whines, Kathryn's head is kicked almost off her shoulders and she collapses onto her back, B'Elanna hoisting herself upwards and staring in disgust at her mauled upper chest and side.

Oblivious to Kathryn's brawl, Annika now trudges through deep mud to reach the centre of the lake's surface, Harry doing likewise as they both pursue Tom who is already submerged.

Kathryn blinks in confused pain first at the blindingly blue sky, and then at a large, blue firefly, which sails above her with immobilised wings, it small legs scrambling for surface.

It is one of thousands of insects which now floats amongst the steadily dispersing suspended droplets of lake water, soil and foliage, which together make the field with the lake look like a summer day's snow, or debris, globe.

A pale face shrouded in long, dark brown hair covers of the sun, and Kathryn's eyes blink several more times before she is able to focus upon the face of Seska, who stares down at her in contemplation.

Seska's face suddenly comes closer as she crouches next to the still half-dazed Kathryn who grumbles in anger, but before she is able to elbow herself upwards, Seska pulls Kathryn to her feet by her loose hair.

The taller woman's strength far exceeding her own, Kathryn's body looks limp as she struggles against Seska's grasp, and scowls into Seska's cold, blue eyes.

Kathryn silently contemplates a colourful threat, but as she settles upon an attempt to hack a mouthful of blood, and one loose tooth, across Seska's face, Seska sees blood seeped through her lips and yanks Kathryn's head backwards towards the sky.

Kathryn chokes, and a small fountain of blood bursts into the air and lands onto her own face and shirt.

A dark brown hand grabs Seska's forearm and she turns in annoyance to look into the face of a visibly unimpressed Mr Tuvok.

"Control yourself, Constable" he says coolly, tightening his grip and carefully holding the back of Kathryn's head as Seska roughly pulls the red hair backwards once more before finally releasing Kathryn's body, the older woman staggering away, wiping blood from her face with her sleeves.

"Mr Tuvok, "Seska begins almost flirtatiously, turning to look at Kathryn who approaches the lake where Kes' body is carried in the arms of their shared lover, "She is a dead witch walking."

Tuvok's arms having returned to his sides as he watches the body of his young mentee being lowered onto the grass, the young man who was none-so-secretly in love with her, Tom Paris, spluttering in grief besides her, the even younger Harry Kim with one hand on Tom's shoulder...

Kes' former mentor lowers his head.

Kathryn hunches in devastation over the body which Annika makes a futile attempt to assimilate with the vein tendrils in both of her hands.

Neither young man is threatened by the presence of Killjaws, knowing her to be a friend of the friend they mourn, and as Tuvok regards the lifeless body of the girl he had grown to cherish surrounded by a small party of mourners, Seska's serpentine voice chills his skin.

"You know how this ends, Tuvok. None will be spared. Not even beautiful young lovers…", Seska closes her eyes, bites her lip and smiles sensually towards the corpse of the young woman on the grass, "And she was beautiful to make love to, let me tell you-"

Tuvok's head snaps upwards as his eyes fix with her own, "No. You may leave now. You have done your 'duty', as you see it. Now I will do mine. Excuse me."

Tuvok turns towards the lake and is alarmed to be met by the soaking wet, missing daughter of a family he knows in the neighbouring village of Chorlton, where Kathryn Janeway was only last night unsuccessfully burned as a witch.

It is Tanya, the girl Kes warned during one evening meal may be used to kill her… Tuvok had dismissed this possibility as extremely unlikely, knowing the young girl capable of wielding great skill, but assuming her to be of no match to Kes.

In stupified silence, and with a rush of sudden, unbearable guilt in addition his plummeting body temperature, Tuvok takes a subconscious step away from Tanya, and then turns to look once more at Seska, who proudly lifts the young girl into her arms.

Tanya looks curiously, if a little fearfully at Tuvok, whom she recognises, before immediately snuggling into Seska's bosom.

"… You cannot use her as a weapon-" begins Tuvok, in a disturbed, low tone which betrays a definite plea.

"Do relax, Mr Tuvok " replies Seska irritably, "All is as it should be…"

And with that, Seska turns briefly to absorb the rare sight of Annika, before heading towards the broken forest, cradling Tanya close to her chest.

Her head lowered so as not to catch the judgemental eye of her former acquaintance Mr Tuvok, B'Elanna fails to completely hide her own tearstained face, one hand covering Killjaws' stinging bite, the other nervously massaging her hair

Keeping a distance of more than several metres between herself and Seska, both women and child disappear into the trees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it has taken me a long time to update this, thank you to all who have returned to this story, and welcome to new readers :) x


	4. Chapter 4

Dandelions and Daisies

Chapter Four

 

Serrated cartilage borders the fluttering eyes of a Cardassian female so hungry for power she is aware of herself steadily losing her mind for it.

Throughout her long life, Seska has wielded strength envied by ordinary humans and "witches" alike, but it has seldom been used for what commonly would be called "evil".

She considers herself a peaceful witch, placid, certainly compared to that animal Killjaws of whom Annika seem so fond of.

Annika.

Her warm skin presses solidly into Seska's bare crotch and thighs, her ghostly white skin flushing deepest pink as she holds her wife's round ass by her hips, and humps her pussy into it with unrelenting, but tender force.

The two women stand on their knees across a bed of animal furs on the stone floor of the hidden mountain cavern Seska jokingly calls her office.

It is not her home of course, she hasn't had one of those since her and Annika still lived together in different villages across the district and further afield.

They were married two centuries ago, being amongst the only "witches" who had crossed planetary systems to eventually settle on Earth, Earth's own witches being somewhat behind in their evolutionarily journey and thus unable to venture outside their own planet.

Centuries before that, Seska, Annika, and a third, more powerful witch, had been revered as goddesses, and the deep, underground temple, where her wife still lives with her Earth witch lover, was built in their honour, and to honour all "goddesses" on Earth.

Seska had fallen in love with the infinitely beautiful younger woman who in turn had left a trail of the softest kisses across her cartilage-ridged face, gazed helplessly into her eyes and asked Seska to pleasure her into unworldly bliss.

The unnatural long life each woman's self-replenishing anatomy gifted her felt like a curse, and for Seska, this long life, contrasted by her infertility on Earth due to the Earth-men's distinctly feeble spermatozoa which are incinerated upon entry inside an intergalactic witch's hostile uterus, seemed simply like a very bad joke.

She had thought many times about suicide, and so had Annika.

The pair had discussed it, and had come to the sad realisation that they were clearly not enough for one another - their strongest connection was their physical one, emotionally however, they exhausted one another, propagating each other's negative thoughts.

Their predicament to live for potentially another millennia longer depressed each of them and their intimacy became increasingly desperate, each woman longing for increasingly intense sensory pleasure, their sex becoming an escape from reality as opposed to a deeper connection with it.

They loved each other deeply, but neither woman could find happiness in a life alone with the other.

Neither wanting to officially separate, they decided that living apart, and living and sharing intimacy with others, whilst at the same time knowing that their love would persevere and that they could return to one another when needed, was a better solution.

This decision was made halfway into their marriage, and during the time of their separation, they became more mysterious to one another, which increased their attraction.

Their sex became an embrace of life as opposed to an escape from it, although it had somehow lost its reciprocity; Seska had become dominant, and Annika very happy to be dominated.

Neither any longer knew enough about the life and thoughts of the other to know their partner's full motivation for intimacy.

Annika had adopted the name "Hansen", and permanently lived disguised for her own safety in this not quite witch-loving world as a human male, using her abilities only sparingly, pursuing relationships rarely and only with trustworthy female friends, both human and witch alike.

When she met with Seska, she wanted Seska to take control of her and give her well-earned sexual relief.

Still grieving her infertility, Seska kept a lot of male company during her initial separation with Annika.

Ten years ago she slept with a man who left her vomiting several weeks later.

Several weeks after that, blood clots appeared in her undergarments - confused, she sought advice from a alchemist and self-proclaimed Doctor, who informed her that she had had a miscarriage.

After less than a month's frantic search to find the dark haired man who has successfully impregnated her, Seska was horrified to discover that he had already fathered a child with the third witch who had come to earth with herself and Annika, the couple having another baby on the way.

She discovered the name of this young child was Tanya, and that the dark haired man had for one night turned his back on his heavily pregnant wife, Afsarah, to make love to the almost beautiful Cardassian.

In jealousy and in rage, Seska had broken this family apart.

She met with Annika one night, exhausted from the trauma of the previous month, and made love to her like it was their last night above soil.

She never discovered why the dark haired man, who called himself "Chakotay", was able to breed with alien witches, but following her swift reassignment of Tanya and her parents, Seska did learn what her own potential was for altering the world around her.

The remains of her tiny, miscarried foetus buried in a stolen jewellery box in the grounds of the forest, Seska was a different person the next time she met with her wife, but the niggling fear Annika felt around the evolved Seska only increased her thrill during their equally evolved intimacy.

Annika met Kathryn this same year that Seska had changed, and their connection quickly became very strong, although Seska was always in Annika's thoughts, and she discussed her relationship with and concerns about her wife many times with Kathryn.

Seska was unscrutable, something had happened to her, or she had done something, but until "witches" began to be hunted by a force clearly more powerful than any normal human authority, a force such as another "witch", Annika's suspicions remained dormant.

It was not until her nights with Seska became less frequent, and stories of witch hunts happening across bordering counties increased, that Annika began to read the gauntness and shadows across Seska's face, and the cold silence of her demeanour, to be signs of wrongdoing.

Kathryn never liked Seska, meanwhile.

They had met more than several times during the six years Kathryn and Annika had been partners, and at every meeting, Seska had commented about how old Kathryn looked, wondering why Annika would choose to live with a woman who looked old enough to be her mother.

Earth witches age naturally, and Kathryn was forty-six years old when she met Annika.

Not looking a day over thirty, and Seska not looking one over thirty-five, both wives have lived over one thousand years between them.

Kathryn never bothered to point out this fact, knowing Seska probably could not stand the fact that Annika chose to spend her days and nights with "the old earth witch" instead of with her.

Not knowing much more about Seska, Kathryn always dismissed the younger-looking woman as jealous.

When she learnt that Seska had been assisting in the capture and execution of other witches, with apparently little motive more than a desire to be the only witch in the village, and in all the other towns and villages, Kathryn updated her judgement of Seska to crazy.

Still dumbstruck by Seska's cruelty at allowing the young Kes, an 18-year-old Seska had only weeks earlier managed to seduce and take from her a virginity which should have been saved for a partner who would have appreciated it, to be the first successful victim of the witch purge in this district, Annika smiles into Seska's touch.

This night she has enjoyed four splendid orgasms at the hands of her murderous wife, and pulling away from Seska's grip, she turns to face her.

Sitting atop the furs, her naked body shimmering with sweat, her muscles still trembling with adrenaline, Annika faces a similarly pleasured wife, Seska's long, brown hair half-covering her pinkend breasts, her smile devious.

Seska crawls towards her and as Annika feels Seska gently push open her thighs, her confused and guilty conscience finds its voice and she whispers, "Why have you become so heartless-"

"That is a stupid question…" whispers Seska back, impatience in her tone.

Despite herself, Annika takes a sharp intake of breath as Seska lowers her long, sinewy body between her legs, her warm breath tickling through Annika's short, blonde hairs.

Annika's heart begins to race once more as her body tenses in anticipation for what is coming.

Seska smiles wryly up into Annika's closed eyes, aware that her wife is struggling with a conscience which can't quite assert itself, her enjoyment of Seska's company being an addiction she does not yet know how to break.

Opening her mouth, Seska lowers her lips softly onto Annika's open pussy and slowly inserts an exceptional seven inches of thick, pink, supernaturally grown tongue.

Annika begins to whimper freakishly as Seska's arms lock around her thighs, her slippery tongue beginning to oscillate inside her channel.

One drawnout, body crunching orgasm later, Seska withdraws from Annika and sits on her haunches, shrewdly watching her wife's twitching recovery, but no longer touching her.

Annika finally opens her eyes, and her conscience is spared another moments dilemma as Seska makes an executive decision, "Return to your Earth witch. Maybe we will meet again when all this is over."

Annika says nothing, sadness straining her heart as she begins to stand.

The two women stand encased in a cold sweat before one another, their arousal still unabating as Seska sinks one hand into Annika's tangled, golden hair.

"I am not heartless…" Seska whispers as her defiant last few words and a regret-stricken Annika, regretful now mainly for having judged her wife so severely, places a smooth hand on Seska's breast and closes her lips around hers.

In the underground temple some miles away, Kathryn stands in darkness before the statues of the three "goddesses".

Moonlight reflects off her clean skin, her shining auburn hair tied back in a high bun as her grave, blue-grey eyes focus upon the stone-carved form of Afsarah, the third and most powerful "goddess", or "witch", who stands central between the equally tall, stone figures of Seska on her left, and Annika on her right.

The statue's features barely visible in the shadows, Kathryn experiences a swell of self-reproach as she belatedly recognises the face of Tanya in the colourless stone figure of her mother.

Thoughts and theories as to how Afsarah was able to conceive, why she disappeared, and to what extent Seska plans to use Afsarah's young daughter Tanya to achieve her bizarrely vicious goals cloud Kathryn's mind.

In a tumultuous contemplation, she is initially unaware of the footsteps which ruffle through broken stone and weeds a short distance behind her.

Annika's shadow appears close to her own, and Kathryn's eyes harden.

She turns around and regards the tired form of her moonlit lover, the tone of her voice dark and accusative, "… Did your wife kill Afsarah as well?"

Annika looks back at Kathryn sharply as both women refrain from descending into an argument about Annika's choice of spouse.

After a long moment staring into the critical eyes of the only woman she is actually in love with, her love for Seska not having been romantic for many decades, but purely erotic and enduring the long centuries they have known one another, Annika replies quietly to Kathryn, "I don't think so-"

"You don't think so?!" exclaims Kathryn, disbelieving of Annika's professed ignorance, and as Kathryn gapes at her in exasperation, Annika takes a moment before replying unambiguously, "I no longer know Seska. I haven't known her for many years."

Kathryn shakes her head and fixes Annika with an angry glare as the blonde continues, "Our relationship is simply physical, but something has changed in her. She is… inordinately confident."

"Which means what?"

"Which means she is prepared, and unafraid."

Feeling her body weaken under Kathryn's unwavering scrutiny, Annika answers the silent question, "I fear that Tanya will be stronger than Afsarah. Her father is a human male who must be a descendant of a very great witch to be capable of reproducing with another. His name is Chakotay, he disappeared at the same time as his wife, leaving Tanya and assumed orphan."

Kathryn absorbs this information in silence, her head turning upwards to look at the clear night sky as Annika comes to her own belated realisation.

"… Seska always wanted to be a mother. She once said that having a family meant she could finally plan for her own death…"

Annika looks morbid, and Kathryn sighs, replying "Well darling, we can all plan for her death now."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading :)
> 
> Just thought I would start a second story, "I Want to be Free" is going to take a long time to finish, might as well have a play with something else in the meantime! x


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